6 p.m.—We were allowed to tramp the boat deck in our hospital garb until mid-day when the O.C. the ship took it into his head to have us removed below. Now that it is dark we are allowed up again, and one is tempted, in spite of the cold, to remain there and admire the city which is a beautiful sight even at night. Vesuvius is in one of her quiet moods and gives out no glow from her crater. On the top of the hill behind the city is the Castle which reminds one of Edinburgh, and to the left of it towers Bartalini's hotel with its numerous storeys, a place where, an officer tells me, "you can get a hell of a good lunch, but you have to pay for it". There are trees everywhere among the houses. Many with tall, branchless stems and a spreading top, evidently of the fir family. Lombardy poplars and tall dark cypresses are everywhere.
Between us and this old Castle, at the water's edge, stands a lofty stronghold, black and forbidding, and I believe many atrocities were perpetrated here in the days of Garibaldi. Its high castellated battlements look as if they had a history.
We finished coaling about 3 p.m. and expected to get off at once, but no, the ship had snapped one of her cables and we could not sail until the 20 ton anchor and 50 fathoms of chain were fished up, and apparently this had not been done before dark, and we must now lie here till to-morrow. The harbour has a rocky bottom, and if an anchor catches behind a rock such an accident is apt to occur from a sudden jerk, and this is the second time it has happened to our boat in this self-same place.
November 29th.—Our whistle began its terrific row at 4.30 this morning. Its blasts are most unpleasant and seem to affect the stomach more than the ears. We began to circle round the "Mauretania" about 8, and by 8.30 we had cleared the breakwaters and were going down the Bay, the morning gloriously fine, almost a dead calm, and the houses and rocks sparkling in the sun. The whole forms a magnificent picture. "See Naples and die." We sailed close in to Ischia and we could see the terraces where the vines grow, beginning at the top of the perpendicular rocks and ascending the hill-sides like a giant's staircase. We pass a big liner flying the French flag, and she dips her stern flag as a salute.
At 8.15 p.m.—We passed Sardinia, but all that was visible was the revolving light of the lighthouse on the south point. There is now a strong gale, and we pitch and roll a good deal. But the wind is soft and warm, blowing from the African desert instead of the snowclad Apennines.
November 30th.—A beautiful day and warm.
I have been having a talk with one of our two captains of the ship. He tells me we have the most powerful wireless installation afloat, except on the big battleships. In Lemnos we can easily pick up the Poldhu messages, although our receiving distance is given as 2000 miles only. We can send out messages to a distance of 500 miles, but the only one allowed just now is the S.O.S. Between Lemnos and Sicily we received a message saying that submarines were operating all round Sicily, and the Consul of Naples warned the captain of another dangerous spot which we are at the present moment approaching. This boat was once fired at by a torpedo as she was entering Lemnos, and at the time was steaming slowly to let the "Mauretania" pass outwards, when another torpedo was fired at that ship, which also missed.
Our numbers on board are 3873 invalids, and the crew and all other staffs at least 1400, or a total of 5273. We have 106 boats, each capable of holding from fifty-six to sixty-nine, so that all could be accommodated in these—if we had time which is never the case in an emergency.
Noon.—Our wireless news for the day has just been posted up. There is nothing much in it except the news that "Sicily is literally besieged by German submarines". Germany says she has accomplished her immediate object in the Balkans, whatever that is, but I understood this was to join hands with Turkey which she has not yet done. Austria is said, on the authority of "The Tribune," to be asking for a separate peace, and at home, considering the reliability of this paper, they think there may be some truth in this.
December 1st.—The steward when he brought me tea at 6.30 this morning, said "Gib." was in sight. On looking out I could see rocks but not "the rock". But it soon appeared and I got hurriedly into my clothes and quickly swallowed breakfast and was on deck with my glasses. Here was the rock close at hand, a brilliant morning, the sun lighting up the side we were nearing, a big mushroom-shaped cloud floating on and obscuring the summit. This side is bare and black with its acres of concrete rain catchments, the only means of water supply. Last time I saw it it disappointed me, but now we headed straight round its projecting south point towards the harbour and had a glorious view of the razor-backed hill, the point bristling with guns, walls, and forts, and all along the west side buildings in white and ochre, with red roofs, all lit up in bright sunshine; plenty of trees about, palms and others, and green grass which is always a surprise to me after the barren peninsula. At the northern point of what is quite a large bay lies the harbour full of shipping, its one entrance guarded by a most powerful boom. The view all round is not much behind Naples—the rock with its large and beautiful buildings; across the bridge, connecting the rock with the mainland, the Spanish town; to the left the snow-white town of Algeciras, famed for its bull fights. Behind all the great towering, rugged mountains of Spain.